Friday, January 18, 2008

really quite touched

Yesterday, I commented on posts by both Ashley and Stacey noting how funny it is you can trace mini-vogues for patterns through ravelry 'friends activity' pages. That evening, I was rather taken aback to be confronted with this, my headless torso repeated over the browser window:

Brompton's queue is at 66 last time I checked, and one person's cast on already. How did that happen? I had no idea I had that kind of blog traffic. Sometimes I think the online knitting community is largley about imaginary knitting (fantasy knitting, like fantasy football...?), and I suspect ravelry's queuing feature encouredges that. All that said, thanks. Really, I mean that. For the ravelry comments, ravelry faves (got to love those hearts scattered over your profile), blog comments, links, emails... I'm actually very, very touched. Plus this sort of thing always brings lurkers out; I've discovered a load of new knitters. I'm going to look into putting up the pattern in ravlery as a download pdf, but that'll take time I don't have right now. I will look into it though.

I have no knitting content, as it is still rainy and horrible and I have failed to take any decent photos. Plus I've been applying for jobs and writing papers instead of knitting this week. So I'll end this with a tip and a link.

Tip: Put potato water in your homemade bread. Even better, mash up a couple of potatoes and put that in your dough. It's amazing; the fluffiest center, with a lovely chewy-yet-crisp crust. The sort of bread that is made for strawberry jam. Freezes beautifully and the toast is divine. You might think I'm crazy, it's a Nigella tip I ignored for years as simply loopy, but it works wonders. If you have her domestic goddess book, its page 298 of the UK hardback (though don't use nearly as much salt as she says, in that respect she is loopy).

Link:Hadley Freeman on "Granny Chic". She complains that the recent vogue for an "eccentric trendiness" (cabled cardigans, tweed skirts and the like) isn't pretty and isn't fun. I disagree with her in terms of taste (it is very pretty, and oodles of fun), but otherwise I thought the article was spot-on. However, she's missing a trick in ignoring the number of blokes who have taken on the same aesthetic - have you seen the quantity of 1970s OU beards in your average urban bar these days? (or is that just a Hackney/ Dulwich thing?) I also suspect this aesthetic reaches to taste in food, drink and hobbies. I'd be interested to know what other knitters think about the article though. I suspect a fair few of us engage in a bit of granny-chic.

Personally, I appear to be wearing two types of tweed today, which I admit is excessive.

15 comments:

congrats!!! even if people just add it to their queue, it is a sign that the pattern is very well liked! I know I use my queue for patterns I really would like to make if I could knit a sweater a day...

I think you've hit the nail on the head with "fantasy knitting." There are so many things I want to knit but just don't have the time - my queue is currently 16 patterns (including Brompton) and that's after I've weeded out the things that I know I'm definitely not going to knit in the foreseeable future.

I know what she means about granny chic. Still, I *like* my comfortable shoes. I like the way they look, as well as the way they feel. I wonder if topshop and office etc are more old lady geek than 'granny', and that's what she means by eccentric.

I think the 'granny' ethos is admirable, and I wholly support it. Personally, the 'granny' aesthetic is not for me (although I do wear alot of handknits & tweed). I probably engage in a large number of 'granny' hobbies - mostly because I seem to be unable to pay for people to do something that I can do perfectly well myself! (e.g., making jam, knitting, sewing, darning). I'm not sure how I feel about the high-street-ification of the 'granny' aesthetic though - somehow it loses the idea of reusing items and makes something that was essentially anti-high street into a big commodity. But I guess this eventually happens to most styles (take grunge for example). An interesting idea though...thanks for the link! Also, lovely cardy - congrats!

Mmmm, I think your distinction between the Granny Ethos and Granny Aesthetic is spot on!

This sort of branding of non-branded (or anti-branded) granny aesthetics is a really important issue - it was one of the aspects of Freeman's article that I enjoyed. Topshop are really working their brand around this style, and have been for a while (at least around the flagship London store). Odd forms of rather skew-whiff nostalgia going on there I think. It's passed ironic to see a style of re-use and recycle (i.e. charity shop look) be made into highly disposable won't-last-10-mins and made in a sweat-shop tee shirts. I mean the look of a warm and lasting cable jumper made out in acrylic, sold for a tenner, worn while the heating is full on, and thrown away at the end of the season (though, that said, one of the interesting aspects of this look is a re-discovery of natural fibers - the amount of wool and alpaca in Top Shop these days is amazing). I wonder if there is a UK thing about it? Top Shop and Office seem much more on this look than H&M.

Yesterday I baked two batches of bread (no potato water - I will doi this next time, though!) Today I am wearing a tweed skirt, glamourous thermal vest and a cardigan, with cowboy boots. Not sure how much of this is ironic and how much comfortable / comforting!

I've started my version, in Jaeger Matchmaker DK and had just one comment. The maths for the placement of markers for the 4th size is out by 8 stitches - the divisions for the 5th size work for the 4th size. Does that make sense? Not a biggie, but I thought I'd let you know. I'm really enjoying knitting this!